OddThinking

I met two characters in a little fishing village in Tobermory, Canada.

Mal was an old man with one glass eye. Mal regaled me with his life story. He had ended up owning his own home and some farmland around it. He rented out the land to a farmer who grew alfalfa. He made enough money from alfalfa rental to retire and take his best friend on fishing trips.

Mal’s best friend mate wore thick glasses, and he looked up to Mal as a philosopher and a good judge of character: “He can see far more with one eye than I can see with four.”

After a bit of a chat, we decided to go to a nearby bar for some food. I nipped off to the bathroom as soon as we arrived. When I came back into the bistro area, they were both at a table looking at me. The waitress standing near the table was looking at me. Everyone else in the small restaurant was looking at me. Mal called loudly across the room as I walked towards them. “We were just discussing what sort of beer you might drink.” Obviously, they had been debating it loudly, because there was this hush across the entire restaurant as everyone waited expectantly to see what my reply. I felt like it was some sort of test.

“Uh, I’d like to try something local. You got anything made around here?” I replied nervously. The waitress nodded. The whole room relaxed into smiles, and the conversations restarted happily. I could have sworn that there was a western-saloon-style piano-player in the back that started up again!

Ever since then, I have wondered. What would have happened if I had asked for a Fosters?